Steven Groves is founder of Social Marketing Conversations and co-author of 'ROI of Social Media', publishing around the world by Wiley & Sons. Subscribe to my blog feed for stuff I decide to blog about.

Last Friday I was able to attend an event they were a part of at the City Hall event venue and met a great group of people – Melodie Reagan of i2i WorkForce, Sam Bailey from the Colorado State Office of Economic Development and International Trade, Debra Zimmer from ExpertMarketingCoach.com, Sandy Morris from Lift-Off Communications and Pat & Larry Nelson of W3W3 Talk Radio. We drank wine, talked about Colorado business with Sam and checked a new art project on display at the City Hall Event Space. I really enjoyed myself and here are several pics from the event that I think you’ll enjoy posted on Facebook.

I guess I knew it would happen eventually. After serving a a volunteer on the OTEF board for several years and helping stage the Arizona Entrepreneurship Conference for the first five years of it’s life, I should have expected to get invovled in something entrepreneurial in Colorado before long – and I did. I like the mission of recognizing these second stage companies that represent the bulwark of our economy and I’ll do what i can to help in the mission.

The display was called ‘Terminal Kings‘ and represented 3 artists working to produce a functional art project of 100’x8′ panels that will be used as construction barriers for the next 5 years at Denver international Airport. The combination of the art work, the venue and the company made for a pretty fun evening. I had to return the next night and filled a Pinterest board with some of the images I liked best.

Colorado Companies to Watch (@ColoradoCTW and at Colorado.CompaniestoWatch.org) is a Denver-based organization I’ve thrown in with that recognizes ‘second-stage growth’ companies for being that essential part of the Colorado economy that these organizations represent. The second-stage description means that the companies that have made it through the first few year of getting launched and they’ve becoming revenue generating. As a ‘second-stage’ company, they are contributing to the Colorado economy with jobs, capital and innovation and through this program, they can be recognized and promoted. The initiative is a joint public-private venture staged with the support of the Edward Lowe Foundation, the Colorado State Office of Economic Development and International Trade, an awesome group of media partners and sponsors and a hardy group of volunteers.

What’s next for my involvement with the group is to lend some assistance in content development (pics, & videos maybe?) and see how I can again support the building of entrepreneurial fires, in Colorado this time! Thanks for having me gang!